Chapter 11: Donton Valleys

1

"...I was genuinely just glad everyone around me still is,' finished June. 'Nice essay.' she smiled fondly. They returned back to Vastichæn overnight, and they had just woken up. Ozin had suggested a few articles for them to have a look at.

'Now I hope you understand what we're dealing with?' asked Ozin, still recovering from his shock. 

'Ashfang seems like quite a character,' mused Ben. 'And you people have quite a history.'

'That's not the important part,' Ozin said, eyes widening. 'We don't know if Demonlord is quite dead yet. And the simple fact that one of the Talismans is located at Sorrow Mountain means that Demonlord could seize it and possibly already using it.'

'Which Talisman is it?' June asked curiously, her eyes actually gleaming. 'If the Talisman is attracted by me, does that mean it would obey me?'

'Talisman of Wisdom,' said Ozin weakly. 'It was the first one to be blown away by mere nanoseconds, but it would always send the strongest signal.'

'Wisdom? Does that mean intelligence?' asked Ben. 

'I have no idea why Gorowrath would name it that,' answered Ozin. 'Maybe it means use wisely, not necessarily boosting your intelligence.'

'So when are we taking off?'

'The sooner, the better,' said Ozin flatly. 'Even if something happens before that, we'd be prepared.'

'When do you suggest we leave?' asked June. 'If the magic is corrupted like you said, then wouldn't delaying it be worse?'

'It's not going to be that fast,' replied Ozin. 'When a Talisman is retrieved, I believe it will suppress or even cancel out some of the magic's negative influence.' Ozin held his chin thoughtfully. 'We can go after you've had your twelfth birthday. How does that sound?' 

'My birthday's in two months,' said June grimly. 'Who knows what the world would be like after two months?'

'Then we should at least wait until it's warm,' suggested Ozin. 'The inside of Sorrow Mountain never receives sunlight ever. It's under ten degrees Celsius during the day and negative ten degrees Celsius during the night. Even when it's summer, the temperature at night won't get above ten.'

'So it's total darkness and freezing at night?'

'Well, not total darkness. But you get the point.'

'How do you think we execute this?'

'We'd have to stay in the caves for at least a week. The Sorrow Mountain is way bigger than you think on the inside.'

'Noted, so should we go after May?' asked June.

'Sounds good to me.' said Ben.

'Then it's decided,' Ozin put his palms on the table. 'We set off on May 13.'

'What if we never find it?' asked Sammy nervously.

'Don't worry,' said Ozin reassuringly. 'Your sister would be able to feel it. She could sense her synph inside guiding us towards the right direction.'

'Osen…' started June. 'You said that demons live in there… would they… try to kill us?'

'Demons are neutral creatures. And they have pretty poor eyesight. The only thing that I'm worried about though is Demonlord…' said Ozin hesitantly, fiddling with his fingers. 'If he has the Talisman and notices us, he's not going to just let us leave.'

'Demonlord's not a problem by himself,' guessed Ben. 'But if demons obeying him is true, then he might send the entire pack going after us.'

'You're underestimating Demonlord, but you're right,' said Ozin. 'If we don't be careful, we're going to get diced by those demons.'

'Then we'll have to get to the Talisman before we do,' said June determinedly. 'I'm not backing down.'

'That's the spirit,' Ozin patted her on the back. 'You're going back to your old self.'

'I'm not,' she said quickly. 'I just wanted to be useful for once.'

'You always were, though,' exclaimed Ben. 'You're being modest because you don't want everyone to feel bad about themselves.'

'If only that statement were true,' she smiled wryly, showing teeth.

2

The next morning, June woke up early again, from a bad dream this time. 'Had the same nightmare again?' asked Ozin caringly before breakfast, not even looking at the cooking pot of ravioli. 

'Don't worry about me,' she said softly. 'It happens a lot these days. I'm getting used to it.'

'Dreaming about the tsunami again?' suspected Ozin. She nodded. 'Dead on!' he said to himself, casually spilling some of the boiling water out of the pot. They fell silent awkwardly, only able to hear the water bubbling.

'Dang, this is going to be exciting!' exclaimed Ozin. 'We're heading to Donton Valleys. That's my hometown, only sixty miles away from Vastichæn. I can't wait for you to meet my folks and the children.'

'There's Alpine children?' beamed June. 'How old are they?'

'All sorts,' Ozin winked. 'I think you'll meet a few friends there.'

'Let's go!' exclaimed June excitedly. 'I miss having friends around the same age as me.'

'They're over 3000 years old…' Ozin coughed. 'I'm kidding. I should stop mixing up the age ratio between the races. Either way, I'm sure you'll get along just fine.'

'They'll probably be flabbergasted when they find out about my age,' June blushed. 'I would be a fetus to them.' She laughed fakely. Soon Ben and Sammy woke up—they were getting excited, too, after being told.

The train honked twice before releasing mass amounts of steam, taking off to its next destination—Donton Valleys.

'Alpine culture is the most gathered there,' explained Ozin profoundly. 'Everything about the place is jolly and festive.' He said as the outline of Vastichæn disappeared behind the horizon line. When they got to the station, it was already nearly noon. Passengers stepped off the train and chattered noisily to one another. There were a lot of people here—thousands, if not tens of thousands. The crowd split into five as different routes led them to different parts of Donton Valleys. Ozin and Co. took the middle route and got on a bus, which drove straight through a long, dark tunnel before exiting behind the mountain.

A massive clearing appeared in front of their bus: the clearing was surrounded by lush, green hills and mountains. Wooden houses hung from the slopes of the less steep hills as they covered the outermost ring of the clearing. The bus took a sharp left after exiting the tunnel and began wounding up a mountain. Lounges were supported by wooden fixes, and Ben could see a female Alpino hanging laundry on one of them. As they drove by the hillside, a blue-emerald lake appeared briefly behind the dense range of mountains. That must be the area where one of the exits to our left would have taken us. Irritated by the sunlight, Ben pulled over a curtain on the window side. He felt better when he turned back to see June giving him a satisfied look. He smiled a little as she held his hand with hers. She gave a surprised laugh when she saw some Alpino children playing with mud outside the bus window sill. They seemed to have noticed her as they gave her a welcoming wave. She waved back brightly. Thanks to Ozin's magic, people on the bus couldn't see them—they'd appear as empty seats with Ozin's 'suitcases' on them. But the people on the outside can—most couldn't be bothered to look, so only children would look inside and not realise that they're the first children to see Germans in the entire history of Alpine. Children's hearts are pure enough to recognise kindness in others to not judge others by their appearance.

The bus dropped them off near a small group of houses on a grassy field, and then sped off into the distance, lifting up dust behind its tires. 'We are finally home,' said Ozin tearfully. 'I haven't been back here for three years. This feels so familiar.' He looked back at June. 'Care to surprise some people?' He smiled mischievously as he held his pocket open.

3

Osen pushed the front door open and held it open for a few seconds. The room was dark, and the door to the backyard was half-open. He gently closed the door behind him and giggled when he saw them in the backyard, chasing each other around. Two adult Alpinos were sitting on lawn chairs at the back, and none of them seemed to have noticed him. 

Hiding behind the wall, he raised a hand behind his back. Careful not to make his snap too loud, he put his hand in his pocket dimension and snapped his fingers.

Bright firecrackers lit the sky outside, startling all of them. The Alpinos looked up—a white and green firework star illuminated the sky after a loud bang and formed the pattern of Ozin grinning mischievously. The young girl clapped her hands on her cheeks. 'He's back! Uncle Ozin's back!' she cried enthusiastically. Ozin stepped out of the shadows, smiling widely as the girl leapt into his arms. 'I missed you.' she cried gingerly. 

'I would never leave for that long ever again.' whispered Ozin.

The adults stood up and came closer. 'Osen, glad to see you. How did the mission go?' asked the male Alpino. 

Osen nodded. 'Pretty well, I've brought three guests.'

The man's eyes widened. 'How are they? What do Germans look like?'

Osen gulped. 'That would be an honest reaction. No, they do not look like us, not one bit.' He bit his lip. 'They're all good. Three children. Probably would get along well with Ellie and Noah.'

'How old are they?' asked Ellie intriguedly. 'Will I get new friends to play with?'

'They're 6, 11 and 13.'

'So they're still babies?' she cried in dismay.

'No!' Ozin smiled wryly. 'They came from another world, and people there can only live up to eighty years. Anyways, you're still younger than two of them proportionally.'

'What about the third one?' her voice squeaky and full of energy.

'He's pretty much the same age as Noah,' replied Ozin. 'You'll see.' He reached his hand into his pocket and reached for a blue-red bouncy ball. Then he threw it into midair, where the ball lingered and expanded slowly until it suddenly split open. They tumbled out of the shell, almost falling onto the grass. 

'It's them!' Ellied cried joyfully. June blinked rapidly and saw a cheeky face looking down at her curiously. Her locks of blonde hair bounced against her shoulders, with large blue eyes clearer than crystals. She wore the iconic green feathers on her back and side, her feet bare against the prickly green grass. 'You're a lot taller than I thought… Anyway, I'm Ellie.' she smiled fondly, extending a hand. 'What's your name?'

'Call me June,' she smiled back. 'And that's Sam and Ben.' She pointed over her shoulder. 'You know Ozin, right?'

'Of course! He's my uncle.'

'I see.' replied Ellie quickly. 'That's my little brother Noah. Come here, Noah.' The Alpino child shuffled over shyly. 'Don't mind him, he's a bit introverted.'

'How can they understand us speaking Norwegian?' Ben whispered to Ozin.

'There's a magical component installed in the Alpine realm that translates every word anyone says. That's one of the main reasons Alpinos can communicate with Nomadrians… and Atlantas… and you guys.' proclaimed Ozin. Ben nodded amusedly. 'You can try learning it if you want.'

'Piece of cake,' said Ben confidently. 'I bet I can master it before we leave.'

'Ooo you sound confident,' said Ozin smugly. 'I'll see you when you ragequit.'

'Bring it on.'

Meanwhile, June and Sammy interacted with the Alpino children. 'So, is anything interesting going on lately?' started June.

'It's my birthday tonight,' replied Ellie merrily. 'I'm turning 3000 this year.' 

'3000? That's crazy.' exclaimed June. 'Tell me about it.' 

'We're having a party out here tonight. We haven't even started setting up yet…' she realised suddenly. 'But that's ok! We have plenty of time.'

'What are you getting for your birthday?' asked June.

'A bicycle,' she answered. 'My old one broke… when I accidentally rode it off a steep edge.'

'How did you survive falling?' asked June bewilderedly.

'Uncle Ozin saved me just in time – using his magic. That was eight years ago though… either way, that was a very embarrassing memory—we shouldn't talk about that.' she answered hesitantly.

'Right,' said June, suddenly remembering herself lying on the hospital bed, her leg numb from the anaesthetics. 'That was pretty lucky.'

'I guess. It was steep, but it wasn't deep,' Ellie stared at the sky thoughtfully. 'But then again, I could've landed on my neck…'

'Okay, stop!' June raised her voice, half-smiling, half-frowning. 'I get it. End of topic.'

'Pretty nasty things I talked about,' said Ellie, her voice cracking up. 'Was there some deep trauma that it invoked from your memories? Not saying that it is…'

Yes. She wanted to say, but then she'd ask more and more about it, turning it into a horror show. She drew a deep breath reluctantly, before saying, 'No.'

Silence. A long, eerie silence.

'Do you want to find out how the age scales between us?' suggested June.

'Somebody told me it was 1 to 300, I think. I can't remember a thing. That was centuries ago.' she punched the ground frustratedly.

'If you're turning three thousand today, then you'd be ten years old by our standards,' answered June. 'You do look like someone that's ten. Not saying that's bad, of course.'

'Did you know,' Ellie suddenly looked sad. 'We only celebrate birthdays every half a century. That's a long time, even by our standards.'

'Sounds pretty tough,' said June sympathetically.

'And it's not even my parent's fault,' she said tearfully. 'My daddy worked so hard… but we have to pay so many stupid taxes to the king, leaving us with only enough to buy basic needs. Nearly half of our income gets taken by the royal messengers. It's so not fair.' She stomped her foot on the ground so hard it hurt. 'They spent it all on jewellery and birthday presents for their own people, leaving everyone else in the dust.

'And the old king has amnesia too, if they'd spent all that money to cure his illness, I'd shut up.

'I hate no one else complains about it. Is it really because we're too poor to buy anything? No one cares about what I say anyway—aside from Uncle Ozin, and Mummy and Daddy—I look like a freak. Have you ever seen anyone else have ugly blonde hair like me?' She pulled at her locks of hair furiously. 

June felt sorry for her. She grabbed a few strands of her own blonde hair and perched in front of Ellie. 'That means you're special.' Ellie looked up, wiping at her tears. 

'Really?'

'Mark my word,' June winced a little as she pulled off a long, stringed, golden hair. 'Because you—out of all people—saw me first, brought here by your uncle Ozin, who's going to save the world with us.' She passed it into her tiny, pale hands. 'That's one thing you can brag about to others.' She smiled warmly.

'You're special too,' Ellie stopped crying. 'The other hermits were wrong about you. They said that Germans were unintelligent, barbaric and inhuman. Not in a million years would they surpass us in quality.'

'They weren't wrong,' she kept smiling. 'Perhaps we were inhuman before because you've seen the world for longer than I could ever have. But who we are now is what's important.'

'You know, I like you, June,' said Ellie softly. 'I haven't seen anyone so… understanding in a long time. And we've just met!' She tilted her head. 'I'm going to call you my sister from now on. Is that okay?'

'You bet it is,' replied June.

4

The birthday decorations for Ellie took no time thanks to Ozin. He waved both hands in the air before turning away coolly, as the tables and chairs drifted over where they should be. Balloons and flags hung around the roof. The stars came out as the playing area was having its finishing touches. 'If we go downtown we can find some traditional Alpine food to buy. And other miscellaneous things,' said Ozin. 'Ellie, you can show them the way, right.'

'You got it.'

'Great.'

'Are you going to cover us?' asked June.

'The magic is on at all times. No one can see you unless I whitelist them.'

Ellie, June, Sammy and Ben strolled down the skinny path downtown, to where the markets were. On the way, they saw a few families walking back home, looking at Ellie weirdly as she talked to thin air. She saw them and ignored them. 'Poor girl. She's going to the markets alone.' Sammy giggled furiously, his giggles were deafened to the other people.

The markets were still busy, even when the sun had completely set and the streets were illuminated by the streetlights. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people walking past them. Shopping stands were set up on either side of the street. Many people brushed past the three invisible children as they tried to stick as close to Ellie as possible. Luckily, Ozin's magic worked miraculously and those people didn't seem to notice. 'Where are we going?' whispered June.

'I'm trying to find Chwärz, but I'm not tall enough.' she whispered back. 'Can you help me?'

'What's Chwärz?' asked Ben.

'Black dough,' whispered Ellie. 'Or flour, either one is fine.'

'I think I see it,' Ben peeked over the Alpino crowd easily. 'It's a few metres to our left.'

'There's too many people.' Someone stepped over June's foot, and she yelled in pain. 'And that's one disadvantage of being invisible.'

'You guys stay here. I'll quickly go and come back.' said Ellie quickly, and then ran off without saying another word.

'Are you okay, Sammy?' asked June. Sammy shook his head. June lifted him up onto her shoulders. 'What's wrong?'

'I don't like being invisible anymore, Junie,' he replied bitterly. 'As long as we're invisible to others, I shall feel like I shouldn't be here.' She sighed helplessly.

'There's always that time when you're not at a place to play around,' said June matter-of-factly. 'This is serious. It's not like we're going to stay in this world forever. As soon as we find the three Talismans, we're leaving.'

'You know that's not true!' cried Sammy angrily. 'They almost see us as we are family to them, and that's rare to find in the world.'

'That's just not going to happen,' said June woefully. 'Maybe we could become a family, but in the end, we're just as unaccepted as Germans by everybody else.'

'How is this fair?' said Sammy tearfully. 'The three races are united with each other, but we get excluded?'

'Barely anyone in here had ever seen Germans. Some don't even recognise our existence. Haven't you heard Ozin? The last human that entered the Alpine realm was a caveman. And then it's us,' explained Ben empathetically. 'It has yet to contain one single generation for them before humans became civilised and sentient. In their minds, Germans are still wild animals that hunt for their food. Ellie had been here before the great Roman Empire existed. They're an ancient civilisation that existed even before the dinosaurs did. We have to look at things from their point of view because, to them, we're the newcomers.' He finished with a deep breath.

'So, they never thought we were like them?' asked Sammy, sniffing. 'That we could never be like them. Is that why we have to stay invisible?'

'We have to give them a chance,' added June. 'Hermits like Ozin occasionally travel to our world to check on us. Over time, if they slowly begin to believe we have turned sentient, they wouldn't have a reason to not accept us. Maybe we'd be able to learn their magic and travel between the worlds like they can.'

Sammy said nothing until Ellie returned with the dough. 'Well, you guys are… obedient,' she said awkwardly. 'Let's go get the goat meat, and… Let me think… the Swiss cheese and Smotherly tea leaves. That's right.' she looked at their shocked faces. 'What? You guys don't know about the Smotherly leaves? That's okay. Oh, by the way, we learned to make Swiss cheese from you guys. They were so good we had to 'borrow' some livestock from the German realm and transported them across realms.' She complimented.

'That's great to hear,' replied June. 'After you.' She extended her arm forward.

Goat meat was easy to find, as many people sell it for profit; they decided on a huge wheel of cheese because Ellie said they had run out. She struggled to lift it. 'Can you help me carry it?' she pleaded.

'Of course,' said Ben, and he grabbed it out of Ellie's hand. 'You're welcome.'

'What about the Smotherly leaves?' asked June, still carrying Sammy, who'd fallen asleep.

'It's out of stock. The tea leaves are very popular,' she replied disappointedly. 'We can go collect some manually though!'

'Collect them… manually?'

'There's lots of it grown in the wild,' she explained. 'I know a spot, it's on the other side of the hill in front of my house. We can go get it and then come back.' They walked back up the stone staircases that led to their house. 'Someone can come with me, it's not that far down the mountain.' The sky had turned completely dark, so they bought a lamp on their way back.

'Couldn't we just get them tomorrow?' asked June. 'We'll miss your birthday party.'

'Nothing's worse than missing the tea during a party,' Ellie insisted. 'Maybe you don't know, and that's fine. But it's a part of our culture.' Her hand lowered to her waist. 'Daddy and Mummy and Uncle Ozin are going to be so disappointed in me if I don't.'

'At least get one of them to come with you, so it's safe.'

'I'll be fine. I've done this many times before,' she took a deep breath. 'Just wait for me at home, would you?'

'I'll come with you to make sure something doesn't happen,' said June. 'Ben, take care of Sammy. I'll be right back.' Ben nodded eagerly.

The girls ran into a fork and turned left. 'There's a path that loops back around home,' said Elly breathlessly. 'We won't get lost.' Their house, which had lights shining out of its windows, disappeared from their view as they ran behind the mountain. A steep valley appeared to their left. 'That's where we were, the markets.' she explained. The green mountains were inky black giants. Crows cawed somewhere on the other side of the valley as it echoed through the lone mountains. Their only source of light was coming from the lamp in Ellie's hand. June began to feel a hint of nervousness, but she trusted Ellie anyway. After another few minutes, they came into a clearing with overgrown bushes. The leaves rustled in the pitch darkness as the wind began to pick up. 

'Any signs?' June asked breathlessly.

'The bushes,' replied Ellie, tired but smiling. 'Pick the leaves that look the most dried up.' June studied the plants cautiously. The branches weren't sharp and pointy, but they were grown in irregular angles, making it very easy to get tangled in. Ellie gave her a woven basket, and they went on picking. 'Strange,' mused Ellie. 'There's usually much more than this growing in the summer season.'

'Maybe others picked them?' suggested June.

'Maybe. But not many people know about this location as far as I know,' replied Ellie, staring at the bushes thoughtfully. 'It'll be enough to last a few months, at least.' She bent closer to them, scanning the branches. 'The plants seem to be lacking nutrients. They look frail.' She stood up and looked at June nebulously. 'Something's not right.' 

Suddenly, they heard the bushes rustling loudly around them. They stood there anxiously. Their surrounding were becoming vivacious, there were sounds of low growling. Ellie looked at June, eyes showing ineffable fear. 'Wolves,' she mouthed. June gulped. Four grey, lurking wolves crawled out of the bushes and circled them. All of their eyes glared viciously at Ellie's small figure. 'They can't see you,' Ellied whispered to her, not taking her eyes off the animals. 'But they can see me.'

'Move slowly,' said June, her adrenaline rushing. 'When we reach the bushes, run like the wind.' Ellie nodded, captivating the wolves' attention. She saw June standing her ground, crouched into a defensive position as she moved closer towards the Smotherly hedges.

The moment she reached there, the wolves pounced at her. June kicked the first two on the snout, hard. They were knocked sprawling into the empty field. The next two hesitated. To them, an invisible force pushed their comrades away and seemed to be protecting the young girl. They sniffed the air. There was the scent of the Alpino girl, but what about the other piquant scent? The two knocked-down wolves got up to their feet and snarled angrily. They know the thing that kicked them wasn't magic because they felt the hard bottom of someone's shoes. The four of them formed a line and then rushed down at the two children ferociously.

'Oh shoot!' cried June astoundedly. 'They can track my scent!' She looked back at the wolves one last time, and then grabbed Ellie's hand and ran like the wind.

5

'Are they still after us?' gasped June, sitting on the front lawn with Ellie at their house.

'I think… they left,' exclaimed Ellie between breaths. 'Are you hurt?'

'My clothes got messed up a bit, and lots of tiny cuts,' panted June, hugging herself tightly. 'That's about it. What about you?'

'I'm just glad to be alive,' she said rapturously. 'Anyways, I'm fine. My cloak protected me.' Then she noticed it. 'Hey, what happened to your leg? Did you get bitten?' She pointed at her ripped pant leg, which had exposed the bloodshot curse for all there was to see. 'Here, I'll take a look.'

'Don't touch it!' June found herself screaming, and she jumped back protectively. 'I'm sorry. I got this curse almost a year ago. And it's contagious according to others.' She stared at her melancholically. 'Please, I don't others to lose their lives from me.'

Ellie looked at her audaciously, not upset. 'I know about it,' she said astutely. Her eyes were serene. 'Uncle Ozin used to tell me about it. It's very profound.' She met her eyes again. 'I promise I won't tell anyone about it, and having it doesn't make you a bad person. All of the adults are bewitched by it in fear, but I understand.'

June fought against tears, 'Looks like we feel for each other from the start.'

'Nobody is perfect,' continued Ellie. 'I'm never going change my opinion on you just because of a stupid curse that somebody never meant to make and others overreacted to it. You are elusive to meet. Normal people can never understand.' She turned to face the house. 'About time we go inside and tell them about our narrow escape, right?' She helped June to her feet. They opened the front door and yelled, 'Hope we aren't late for the party?'

'Nope. You bet you didn't.' said Ozin casually.

'What happened to you?' asked Ellie's dad.

'We got caught in a bit of a blip while trying to pick some Smotherly…' replied Ellie, showing him the basket. 'We got attacked by some wolves. But we escaped safely.'

'Wolves?' asked Ozin anxiously. He was lost in thought for a bit before saying. 'Oh no. The Talismans are affecting living things too now. It seems.'

'What?' exclaimed Ben.

'Wolves only came out to hunt for food after midnight. The Talisman's influence is interacting with their sleep schedule.'

'That's crazy,' exclaimed June.

Osen set down a teapot and dropped in a bunch of Smotherly leaves. He then poured some boiling water and closed the lid with a cling! The rest of it he sealed it in an air-tight bag and threw it into the cabinet. 'Now, who's ready for some Alpine rolls?'

'Everyone!' said Ellie zealously. 'Alpine rolls are my favourite cuisine in this country.'

She wasn't wrong. The food was so delicious. June was savouring every last bite, and so was Ben. The flavour was very intense, but that also made it special. The goat brisket literally melted in their mouths as it had fantastic marbling, smoked and then baked to perfection. The black dough had the crispiest crust of their lives and the texture was heavenly when combined with Swiss cheese. 'Wait until you taste the Smolderly tea, the taste is ineffable,' reminded Ellie.

After ten minutes, the tea had turned into truly pitch black. 'Are you sure this thing is edible?' asked June doubtfully. Ellie nodded assuringly. 'Here goes nothing!' June drank her entire cup in a mouthful.

'No! Don't do that! That's not how you-' she warned, but June was hacking uncontrollably before she could finish her sentence. She choked on her saliva as the smoky flavour got to her. She grabbed her throat and collar as she inhaled rapidly. Ozin and Ellie looked at each other… and laughed. June coughed and wheezed as tears flooded her eyes. A burning sensation in her throat flared as if she had just drank a shot of vodka. It's just tea. She reassured herself elusively. I'm not going to die… right? Finally, the burning sensation died out along with the itching smoke. What was replaced was a sweet but bitter aftertaste that hung on the lump in her throat. She smiled at Ozin wryly, who was still dying from laughter. 'What the hell was that?' she asked him dumbly.

'Don't worry, it was just the first time,' Ozin patted playfully on her shoulder, laughing. 'You'll get used to the taste after a while. Besides, you weren't supposed to drink that much in one mouthful. It's weird, I know. But why don't you go to drink some water? It'll help with the bitterness.' He grinned mysteriously. She listened and drank some cool water.

'Wait a minute… why does the water taste sweet?' she asked in surprise.

'The tea itself is bitter, but it somehow acts like a sweetener,' answered Ozin. 'Very interesting. Even to us.' June looked at Ellie and her family—they seemed to be enjoying it, drinking cup after cup nonstop. 'The tea is also pretty addictive, but it's healthy for your body,' added Ozin. 'The tea also has some health benefits—it prevents rapid cell growth and unblocks your intestines, preventing any build-up and cancer from happening.'

'Very helpful.'

'Indeed,' said Ozin. 'See? Ben's getting used to it already.' Ben looked at them with his face scrunched up.

'What are you talking about?' he asked, bloating.

'Someone's having fun blowing bubbles over here,' Ozin looked at Noah. 'Now, who wants to learn how to do that with black dough?'

6

The days went by really fast. Soon the temperature rose by a whole lot in a few days. They had to take off their long-sleeved shirts and wear shorts and jandels. The grass had turned from a wholesome green into a yellowish green. Much of the humidity was reduced massively and the sun was causing them to have sunburn and more common nose bleeds. Soon, Ellie returned to going to school. June, Ben and Sammy were learning Alpish at home with Ozin, and it was more complicated than they expected. The pronunciations are quite unfamiliar, unlike Latin. 'Ale,' attempted Sammy.

'A is pronounced "isle",' corrected Ozin patiently. 'This is going to take longer than I expected.'

By the end of the third week, They could communicate simple sentences with each other. 

'Alima, madoqch me June.' pronounced June fluently. 'Sect tris dervermin.'

By the time they were preparing to go to Sorrow Mountain, she could communicate with Ellie in Alpish with no problems. 

She lay in bed beside Ellie, expecting tomorrow to be uncomfortable and dangerous. 'It's a good time while it lasted.' She murmured.

'Yeah, I guess,' replied Ellie. 'Promise me something.' she turned over to face her.

'What?' asked June.

'Promise me that you'll return here, safely, after the deed is done,' She replied longingly. 'Please be careful.'

'I'll be back safe and sound, I promise,' replied June, who experienced a déjà vu. I said the same thing to Steven. She realised.

'Uncle Ozin will protect you. He's very expertise in magic,' mumbled Ellie. 

'I can only hope,' laughed June. 

Ellie fell silent again, lost in deep thought. 'There used to be a person that you made me think of. He was fair to everybody. He didn't think Germans were any different from us. He was also a hermit. His name was Akul,' she paused. 'Akul was like a father to me. Then one day, he's gone. No one was able to find him. They'd declared him dead by the time I turned 2500.' She looked at the ceiling again. 'I was never able to see him again, but I dream of him every night. I don't believe that he's dead.' 

'What do you think happened to him then?' asked June.

'He vanished from existence. I think he was kidnapped by some unseen force, if possible.'

'You don't want the same to happen to us then, I'm guessing,' breathed June deeply. 

'If you don't come back, I might lose my mind,' started Ellie. 'I don't want to lose anyone ever again.'

'If we don't come back, then we probably got kidnapped by demons,' repeated June. 'I'm joking.'

'Perhaps,' Ellie smiled comfortingly.

The crickets outside stopped chirping at once, as rain began tapping on their window and the roof, blurring out the mountains outside with raindrops.

The next morning, June left their room precautiously, not waking up Ellie. Ozin waited for them outside the house in front of the mountains. Muddy puddles sat on the polished pebble road. They didn't take many things—tools, water, flashlights and headlights, four or five sets of clothes each, four climbing sets, camping gear, and two weeks' worth of rations. They went to the train station by foot and boarded the train to Gorowrath, the closest city to the Sorrow Mountains. After they reach Gorowrath, they'll have to sail up the Vessel River and rest in the nearby forests. After which they will eventually reach Sorrow Mountain towards the end of Vessel River, and proceed from there. It would take about five days to reach there by foot, and another seven days to find the Talisman of Wisdom, as Ozin estimated. 'Never let despair or sorrow get to you.' Ellie had told her. 'Don't succumb to the Sorrow Mountain. Don't let anything get the better of you.'

I'm gonna try my best. June thought determinedly.